You could find bands, festival services and play games with their fun location-aware tech and apps

28th July 2015

Visitors to this weekend’s WOMAD festival (the long­-running World Music festival co-founded by Peter Gabriel) benefitted from some impressive location-aware tech from Bath startups Lifejak and Blispa.

“Technology can enhance and transform a festival into a year-round experience both for attendees and remote audiences”

By downloading an app festival-goers could use it and iBeacon tech, to find their way around, get info on who was playing and where (compared to their position) and even provide them with a fun treasure hunt game for those quieter moments.

Bath-based Lifejak develops engaging playful technologies for industries and teamed up with Blispa, another Bath startup, which develops apps triggered by beacons including games, tours and guides.

A year of R&D

The money for the project came from the UK’s government agency InnovateUK and this is just the start of a year’s worth of conducting research with suppliers, festival-goers and performers to get the best out of the possibilities the tech offers.

Womad 2015 Android app:The app lets you check out who is playing when and where, the site map shows you around and you can play the World of WOMAD treasure hunt

“Technology can enhance and transform a festival into a year-round experience both for attendees and remote audiences,” said Jamie Ridyard, CEO of Lifejak. “Not only as a forum for music and dance, but also for social discovery, inter-generational inclusion, and regional economic improvement.”

iBeacon powered

To provide the effect, Blispa’s iBeacons (modelled expertly on the right by Blispa’s developer Tom Fletcher) were placed around the festival site and triggered by proximity to your phone. If your phone has the app installed, the iBeacon will trigger content to appear on the phone allowing you to find places, things and play games.

Jamie Middleton is an editor and writer with a keen interest in technology and innovation. He was the founding editor of TechSPARK and was previously the Digital Communications Manager at the Technology Strategy Board - the UK government's innovation agency - and the Operations Editor for TechRadar.com - the UK's biggest technology review site.